Continuing the work of former M CEO boss – Frank Van Meel – Markus Flasch, the new CEO in Garching, brought to light several topics this week, including the possibility of future CS and CSL models. That very same topic was discussed at length by Van Meel prior to his departure for the BMW total vehicle development unit.

“We will see more limited editions, especially models like the CS and, I can imagine, the CSL,” he said.

“We won’t do this for every car but I would go as far as to say that we also don’t have to stick to coupes only. I can imagine CS and other special versions also will turn up.

“We won’t see the GTS sub-brand in future. There will be CS and maybe CSL. There won’t be a GTS in parallel with CSL.”

Mr Flasch said the M division would also continue to cater for different customer tastes through the sportier Competition spec and more versions of the CS – and potentially CSL – racetrack-oriented variants.

But how would Flasch describe a CSL vehicle from BMW?

“CSL stands for light weight, CSL stands for racetrack ability, and for the purest M character that you can achieve on a car that has still got license plates on it,” Flasch added.

The next generation BMW M3 G80 is due out in 2020, so we won’t be surprised to see a special M3 model arriving within the same calendar year.